What would have happened if Pilate had used his "Free Will™" to acquit Jesus?

Answer 1

the religionists would have had to find some other jew nailed to a stick to worship

Answer 2

God would have used some other mechanism to bring about Jesus' death. Pilate had the choice himself of what to do, but God knew beforehand what his choice would be, and was able to act accordingly to put Jesus where He needed to be, when He needed to be there. If Pilate would have made another choice, God would have simply organized the whole event differently.

By the way, free will is not as free as some people may think. It is free in the sense that we are not pre-programmed and we can make our own decisions, but it is limited in that we can only act on what we know, feel, think, want, don't want, and are otherwise influenced by. See Galatians 5:13-25 for an interesting and telling discourse on this.

Answer 3

This is why Pilate was in this position, as well as Judas and Peter and Paul, God the Father and Jesus knew their spirits, and knew what they would do, if they fell to temptation, and used this knowledge to their advantage.

It would not have mattered if Pilate would have freed Jesus, Jesus still would have been glorified, because He still would have been killed. Jesus told us to take up our cross, what is a cross, the cross is your belief in the Word of God, not a wooden cross. Jesus came to bring us the truth concerning God the Father and to tell the Jews that Satan had deceived them. (If you were Abrahams children you would not try to kill me)
Many of you think the anti-christ must come first, before Jesus returns. You are incorrect.

The Christ has told you he walked the earth (Abraham was glad to see me) already, The anti-christ has already been here (and he deceiveth the whole world) and the name of the man is Moses, the building of the temple (the throne of Satan) by solomon is 666. Read Luke 4:6 and 4:9 these places are of the devil. Read John 4:20-22, John 1:17
John 6:32, John 10:8, John 3:14, Luke 24:25

Answer 4

Pilate did use his free will in condemning Jesus to death. Remember that Pilate wanted to set him free, but pressures put on him led him to change his mind. As a government official, Pilate was responsible for keeping order in a Roman province. If a riot broke out, Pilate would have been in big trouble. So, one way of looking at it is that Pilate chose to avoid a huge riot by killing one man.

Another way to look at it, however, is to see Pilate as using the death of Jesus as a way of getting even with the Jews. If you read the account in John's gospel, you get a different feel for the scene entirely. Pilate becomes afraid when he hears the accusation of the Jews who said that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Pilate was afraid of that title because that title belonged to the Roman emperor alone. Taking on that title is a direct challenge to the Roman rule and system. Notice that in John's Gospel that Pilate gives Jesus over to be crucified only after the Jewish leaders declare, "We have no king but Caesar." At that point, Pilate has them right where he wants them and he lets Jesus die freely.

Later in that gospel account, the Jews become upset at the sign Pilate puts on the cross, but Pilate does that intentionally. Now that the Jews have sworn allegiance to the Roman empire, there is no room for revolt. The death of Jesus, then, for Pilate is the ultimate example of what would happen to the Jews if they claim any other king but Caesar.

Pilate, then, did use his free will in executing Jesus.

Answer 5

Then Pilate, using his free will, would not of been guilty of condemning an innocent man.

John 19:6-10
6 So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, "Crucify, crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him."
7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God."
8 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid;
9 and he entered into the 1Praetorium again and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. [1 I.e. governor's official residence]
10 So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?"


Luke 23:14-15
14 And said to them, "You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.
15 No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him."

Luke 23:22
22 And he said to them the third time, "Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him."

Answer 6

God had that covered. He allows in His Word for the times when He needs "to turn the heart of a king" (or other government officials).

As God, he has the right to overrule the decision of any human being. But when he does, that person is then not responsible for the decision, and bears no blame or consequences. Those was Pilate allowed to "wash his hands" of the whole thing.

Answer 7

pilate did not "momentarily" lose his free will wen he pronounced judgement on Jesus....he didnt have the courage to acquit Jesus...the "if" is not worth my consideration

Answer 8

And fight off the Romans and the Jews who were jealous? Hard to do no matter what you are capable of. Man's greed is too strong.

Jesus is here now. And thankfully- he doesnt hold it against us. Whatever happened to the people who did this? the people who actually brought the crucifixion to be?

Answer 9

It doesn't matter what Pilate did or if he would of or wouldn't of.

Jesus Said:
18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

No matter if Pilate would of acted differently, Jesus would of still laid his life down for us.

Answer 10

He did. And what happened is the people threatened him with the possibility of having him labeled a traitor to Rome and Caesar.

Boy, are you ignorant. Earlier it was the pigs thing, not knowing that town was a Gentile town.

It's appropriate the animal you chose for your avatar.

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Answer 11

Jesus probably would have continued shooting off his yapper until he got hit on the head behind some big rock , or starved to death and provided food for the vultures .